adminAt the end of October, a permanent cease-fire agreement, effective immediately and on the entire Libyan territory, has been signed under the auspices of the United Nations in the Swiss city of Geneva. This agreement can be considered as a result of diplomatic efforts made to resolve the conflict, despite doubts expressed by a number of military and political experts with intertwining views.
The agreement was finally concluded between several officers from the Government of National Accord and officers from the Libyan army under the leadership of Khalifa Haftar. This event comes after a series of talks hosted by the Egyptian capital, Cairo, more than a month before. In this context, the Acting United Nations envoy to Libya, Stephanie Williams, stated that the two sides agreed to implement permanent and immediate cease-fire throughout the entire Libyan territory.
However, the cease-fire agreement does not include the groups that the United Nations classifies as terrorist organizations such as ISIS, which is present in a number of Libyan regions, especially the southern regions.
According to the mentioned agreement, all military units and armed groups are required to withdraw from the fighting fronts and return to their camps. It was also agreed that all foreign fighters and mercenaries would leave the Libyan territories within a period not exceeding three months after the signing of the agreement. It should be noted that the agreement also stipulated that all military agreements concluded by the two parties with their foreign backers would be suspended and all foreign military trainings would be abandoned until a unified government is established to manage the Libyan affairs.
The ways of implementing this agreement on the ground are yet to be made public. However, a military expert, that prefers to remain anonymous, reported that a military committee, formed by representatives from both sides of the conflict, will lead a force of individuals non-affiliated to any of the warring parties. This force will be responsible for the inventory and classification of armed groups and of finding a way to integrate these groups into future state institutions.
Great hopes regarding the future leadership and organization of the country have been expressed during the Libyan National Dialogue Conference “5+5”, held in Tunis at the beginning of November. The main purpose of this conference was to focus on the creation of a national unity government. There were discussions about parliamentary and presidential elections that should end the conflict. The discussions were realized in a “5+5” format featuring military leaders from both warring parties, political personalities, spiritual leaders and representatives of various tribes and regions of Libya. The conference was supervised by the United Nations.
(From A.L., our correspondent in Tunisia)